Drawing on the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit, this report identifies 227 problematic regulations in Romania and makes 152 specific recommendations on legal provisions that should be amended or repealed.
This review analyses regulatory barriers to competition in the tourism sector in Tunisia, with the goal of helping Tunisian authorities mitigate harm to competition and foster long-lasting growth. This report is based on a competition assessment conducted by the OECD identifying rules and regulations that may hinder the competitive and efficient functioning of markets in the tourism activities under review.
. Against this backdrop, this report analyses Portuguese regulations for road, railway and maritime transport, and many ancillary services (such as vehicle inspection centres), as well as Portugal’s ports.
Many of Mexico’s product markets remain among the most heavily regulated in the OECD. Structural flaws adversely affect the ability of firms to effectively compete in the markets and hamper innovation, efficiency and productivity.
This review analyses regulatory barriers to competition in the gas sector in Mexico, with the goal of helping Mexican authorities make regulation more pro-competitive while fostering long-lasting growth.
During the past few years, Romania has recovered well from the global financial crisis. However, the country still faces structural problems, including poor competitiveness, that limit economic growth. Against this background, the OECD Competition Assessment Project analysed legislation in three sectors of the Romanian economy: construction, transport and food processing. Using the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit to structure the analysis, the OECD identified 227 problematic regulations and made 152 specific recommendations on legal provisions that should be amended or repealed. This report identifies the sources of those benefits and, where possible, provides quantitative estimates. If these recommendations are implemented, there should be benefits to consumers in Romania and to the Romanian economy in all three sectors.
Future economic development and the well-being of citizens in South East Europe (SEE) increasingly depend on greater economic competitiveness. Realising the region’s economic potential requires a holistic, growth-oriented policy approach. Against the backdrop of enhanced European Union (EU) ...
Over the last two decades, Romania has converged rapidly towards the OECD average income per capita. Its economy has also proved resilient: after a deep contraction in 2020 triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, activity has rebounded fast.
Romania’s income per capita has increased from 26 percent of the EU-28 average in 2000 to 63 percent in 2017, but this economic success rests on the wobbly foundations of unfavorable demographics, weak human capital, and ineffective institutions. Going forward, stronger competition and better human capital are critical to increasing the economy’s growth potential. Romanian manufacturing ï¬?rms are exposed to domestic and international competition, ensuring the flow of resources and market shares to more efï¬?cient players. This has not been the case for services, where anticompetitive regulations and direct state control often limit efï¬?ciency gains. Romanian state-owned enterprises do not compete on an equal footing with private sector ï¬?rms, distorting market outcomes and hampering the efï¬?cient allocation of resources. Removal of these restrictions would have a signiï¬?cant positive impact on GDP growth. Competitively neutral policies are needed to ensure that all enterprises, public or private, domestic or foreign, face the same set of rules. Romania’s human capital accumulation--proxied by the World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI)--is the lowest in the European Union and varies widely across counties. Disparities in education outcomes remain relevant across and within regions of Romania. Learning gaps in primary and secondary education persist. These can be seen clearly between urban and rural areas, across regions, and across social groups, requiring changes both at the systems level and at the learning-center level. In the labor market, the automation of production processes has started driving demand for higher levels of cognitive skills, while jobs involving the routine application of procedural knowledge are shrinking in number. A paradigm shift would require reforms in primary and secondary schooling, in addition to more targeted actions, to establish an effective skills development system to bolster human capital.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has led to higher energy prices and disruptions in trade and supply chains, weighing on economic growth. Economic convergence had already slowed down before the pandemic, calling for accelerating structural reforms. Rising spending pressures related to defence, internal security, health and old age poverty need to be addressed by raising spending efficiency and tax revenue, while the tax burden should be shifted from labour towards other income, property, and environmental taxes. Continuing to improve the capacity of the public sector, fostering investment and innovation and addressing skilled labour shortages are key for raising potential growth. Low credit supply is a main factor for weak investment and should be tackled by fostering competition and deepening capital markets. High informality, which hinders access to finance and distorts the level playing field, should be addressed by reducing labour taxes for low-wage earners, improving tax enforcement and continuing to fight corruption. Strengthening the power of the Competition Council to enforce competitive neutrality of state-owned enterprises and challenge regulation that restricts competition would help to foster business dynamism and innovation. Addressing skilled labour shortages will require facilitating skilled migration and investing more in human capital. SPECIAL FEATURE: RAISING INVESTMENT TO SUPPORT GROWTH